Weeee’rrrrrrree back. A little tanner, a bit tired, and with smiles on our faces because last week was seriously awesome. Costa Rica was our destination for our annual getaway and we truly had a week long love affair with that place. There was so much that we didn’t know about the country upon arrival, we fell in love with so much about it by the time we had left (I am thinking we just might have to go back someday!) When Drew and I started dating, we knew that travels and adventures needed to be a part of us. This was our fifth year of escaping the bitter cold in order to sip margaritas, explore new scenery, and beach it up together without the pressures of this busy world on our backs. The last four years we have celebrated his birthday in different countries and have enjoyed the Superbowl in places like: Jamaica, The Dominican Republic, and now Costa Rica. 

For those of you who don’t know a lot about Costa Rica (beyond the fact that it’s a great vacation destination) allow me to offer a little insight before I show you our experience. Costa Rica is a Central American country which is bordered by Panama, Nicaragua, the Pacific Ocean, and the Caribbean Sea. It sits on a ring of fire and has over 117 volcanos in it’s land scape! The sun is ridiculously hot there, thanks to it’s location so close to the equator. So we religiously slathered on 50 SPF and even opted for shade on a few days! Costa Rica is seriously a happy place, it is known as one of the happiest countries and that was really evident during our stay. After they abolished their army in 1948, they created alliances with many countries (including the US) and then put their money towards the education of their people. They have an impressive literacy rate of 96%, for real, they value education so highly and it is evident while visiting.

This year I wanted to shoot some footage of our adventure and boy, I am so glad I did. Not only is shooting video part of my off season projects, I love seeing things in motion. In this video you will see our resort, The Occidental Grand Papygayo, our old friends (who we met on our honeymoon 2 years ago!) and our new friends (including an old man who shakes his booty wonderfully!) You will watch us go on the Pure Adrenaline tour with our new friends Johnny and Shannon which included: horseback riding, rapids tubing, zip lining, rock climbing, and repelling! You’ll see us celebrate Drew’s 27th birthday and enjoy the beach while the tides changed! You will get to see a Costa Rican sunset (one we hiked to enjoy!) and experience a Palo Verde boating tour of the jungle! This is our trip shown in five sweet minutes! They love saying “Pura Vida” which means the pure life, the good life… so here is our “Pura Vida” experience. Don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll be sharing our vacation photos but for now, enjoy! 

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There is our past week in a matter of five sweet minutes, it contains so many wonderful memories from our past week and will be a video we will cherish forever! Now… to start digging through my email inbox and uploading the photos. Whew, it’s going to be a busy Monday, folks! We’re back!

Special thanks to our amazing travel agent, Mary, of Magnum Travel! She was exquisite to work with and helped us find this location. Seriously guys, if you are struggling to book a trip, talk to Mary! We highly recommend her, she is AWESOME!

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It’s Monday! Grab some coffee, sit back, and keep on reading:

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